Domestic appliances with a display means are generally known. Such domestic appliances, and in particular powered devices and instruments, are available in numerous designs and are fit to perform a large range of tasks varying from processing food to gently awakening a family. To provide information or feedback on the settings, mode of operation, condition and the like of such domestic appliances, a display may be provided. Besides a large variety in designs and applications, domestic appliances may be stored or positioned in countless ways. Hand-held domestic appliances like mixers and electric knives may be stored outside view, while stationary domestic appliances may alternatively be visibly positioned on e.g. a bed-side table or on a kitchen working top in case of an alarm clock and a coffee maker, respectively. Domestic appliances are required to have compact yet ergonomically desirable shapes and appealing designs, to comfortably assist in everyday chores while matching trendy styles in kitchen or bedroom furniture. Such a variety of requirements may pose the designer of home appliances for the challenging task of determining an optimal shape as a compromise between manufacturability, appeal and ease of handling of the application. A clear-cut example of such an antagonist set of motives is described here below with reference to a wake-up system for awaking a person by increasing light intensity. Such a system is known and includes an alarm clock coupled to a main light source supplied by variable electric power. The electric power and the intensity of the light emitted by the main light source are slowly, smoothly and gradually increased after the wake-up cycle is started. The time interval over which the light intensity increases is a predetermined period of time, or may be selectable by the user of the system. It will usually be in the range of thirty minutes to some hours. The final light intensity of the wake-up system may be selectable by the user, or has a predetermined value. At the end of the wake-up cycle the system may produce a sound signal to make sure that the person to be awaked knows that the wake-up cycle is over, or to awake that person in case he is still sleeping. Usually, such a system is provided with a display to provide the user with system information about the time, date and selectable or adjustable settings of the alarm clock, as indicated here above.
The known wake-up system is usually positioned near the bed on e.g. a bed-side table to enable the user to adjust the settings of the system within reach when being in bed. An appealing design of the known wake-up system, harmonizing with the style of the bedroom and the bedroom suite, is important; at the same time the wake-up system should be sufficiently compact to fit on the bed-side table, without occupying a major part of e.g. the bed-side table.
A relatively large portion of the power supplied to the main light source is converted into heat. In known wake-up systems an incandescent lamp of at least 70 W, or even more than 100 W is applied as main light source. Measures have to be taken for cooling the system, whereby the cooling is preferably performed by means of free convection of ambient air, in order to avoid noise that may be caused by forced cooling. For that reason, the dimensions of such wake-up systems are relative large, which conflicts with the requirements of compactness of the wake-up system and of sufficient freedom to realize an appealing design of the wake-up system.
A separate display is frequently positioned in or on the housing or a wall, more particularly a wall portion of the housing, of a domestic appliance, disturbing the uniformity and integrity of the design of said housing or wall and necessitating the need for special adaptations to attach such a display component to the housing or the wall of the product. Such a housing or wall may comprise a smoothly or doubly curved shell structure, emphasizing or expressing a trend in product design. Alternatively, the design of the housing or the wall of the appliance may be according to an angular or rectilinear design.
Today's displays, such as LCD- and OLED-displays are usually mounted into or onto the housing or a wall of the appliance. If the display is mounted into the housing the housing may have a window or may be partly cut away to accommodate the display. The accommodation of the display leads to an interruption of the surface of the product housing or of a wall or wall portion thereof. Such interruption may be perceived as a disturbance of its appearance.
Displays using LED's, a mask and a diffuser are commonly used devices which are sold by many manufacturers. In such known displays a protecting and transparent sheet or layer is covering the level of the diffuser of the display, i.e. the level of the display where the information is indicated. These known displays are usually mounted on or assembled into domestic appliances such that the surface of the transparent layer is at the same level as the surface of housing of the product domestic appliance. Hence, a difference in level between the surface of the product housing and the level of the display where the information is indicated will result. This difference in level is visible and will, if detected, be perceived as emphasizing a disturbance of the smoothness, uniformity and integrity of the housing of the product or the appliance. Furthermore, such a difference in level emphasizes the presence of the display. A too pronounced presence of a display decreases the appeal of the product. A too pronounced presence of the display on top of the above described interruption of the product surface by the display may even be perceived as a disfigurement of the product design.